The Crookston School Board met Monday night and unanimously voted to move the district’s learning model under the Minnesota Safe Learning Plan to Model I, which will return all high school students to in-person school every day following the required two-week phased transition. The board voted to have 7th-9th grade start February 1, and 10-12th grade starts February 16, as mandated by Governor Tim Walz’s phase-in plan.
The governor’s orders on the Safe Learning Plan only allows the district to change the learning model for three grade levels at a time to phase in the change in a safe environment said Superintendent Jeremy Olson, who went over the rules for the model change with the board prior to a motion to make the move. “You have to space them out two weeks under the governor’s plan,” said Olson. “As a result, they voted to go for a February 1, 7-9th grade rollout. For the first couple of weeks here, 10-12th will stay on hybrid and 7th-9th will be in-person every day. Then on February 16, the 7-9th will still be in-person every day and the 10-12th will also return to in-person. We are also required under the plan to give (staff) two days of planning. So, we’re going to have to take high school off this Thursday and Friday to allow for planning. We’ve done the majority of planning already, but we’ll have some fine-tuning.”
School Board member Mike Theis made the motion to return all grade levels to full in-person schooling. “I couldn’t be happier that we’re able to get our children back to in-person learning,” said Theis. “I think it’s critical for our student achievement. I wish we’d be able to get all K-12 at the same, but per the governor’s order, we can only do three grade levels at one time. The first one will be February 1, and the next one will be February 16. I think the kids are excited, the teachers are excited, and the community is. I really look forward to this happening, and I think it will be a good thing.”
School Board Chair Frank Fee said he’d also been hearing a desire to return to in-person learning every day from parents. “We’d like to see all of our kids back in school face-to-face,” said Fee. “But at least we’ll be able to get our 7th-9th graders back in school and then, two weeks later, get our sophomores through seniors in school. I think the majority of parents really want their kids back in school face-to-face. There’s a lot of struggles with online learning. Having internet one day, not having it the next. They freeze up or can’t communicate with their teachers. I’ve had many, many, many parents say to get them back in school.”
Again, there will be no school for Crookston High School students on Thursday, January 28, and Friday, January 29. Highland (HES) and Washington (WES) Elementary Schools will both have school on those days. Crookston High School 7th-9th graders will return to in-person learning every day on Monday, February 1. The 10th-12th graders will remain on the Blue (Monday/Thursday), Gold (Tuesday/Friday) schedule through Friday, February 12, and return to in-person learning every day on Tuesday, February 16.
DISCUSSION ON THE MODEL CHANGE
Before the board voted to change the learning model, Board member Dave Davidson said his only concern about changing was staff vaccinations. He asked Olson whether all of the teachers could get vaccinated or should be vaccinated before changing models while noting that the teachers at HES and WES had taught in-person throughout the pandemic.
Olson said that theoretically, all district staff could be vaccinated because the vaccination plans are in place, but there isn’t enough vaccine available realistically. Olson noted that the district had been allocated 12 first doses of the vaccine last week and another 36 doses this week.
Fee also stated he’d heard approximately 24 staff members would decline the vaccine and asked how that would affect the school and those who choose to take the vaccine. Olson said that if anyone chooses not to take the vaccine, the district will still move forward as if all had taken it as they’d had the opportunity. Olson also noted that there will still be impacts on transportation. Bus capacity is still limited to 50 percent, so the district will still need parents’ assistance to get kids to school. The district continues to have a bus driver shortage limiting its ability to add more routes.
SCHOOL COUNSELOR
The board approved its consent agenda Monday, which included personnel items. Among the personnel items was the resignation of school counselor Leah Zimmerman. Olson said the district plans to do a full search this spring for a school counselor but will take some interim steps to provide students’ necessary services. “We’ve put a lot of thought into this,” said Olson. “Obviously, from a logistical standpoint, a mid-year resignation is never a good thing for the district. We understand absolutely why Mrs. Zimmerman has chosen to do that; because it was an opportunity that came up. I totally get that and respect that. From the standpoint of where the district is at, we will do a full search in March. But, realistically, the person would not be starting until September. In the meantime, we’ve reached out to Northwestern Mental Health to help with some of the components there. We’re also going to work on some of the components as a district internally. The third leg is trying to find or identify a person that could come in a few days a week to help us with the other aspects that are more counseling focused. This will be a little bit of patchwork, but we’re going to make sure the kids don’t suffer. Obviously, the kids are number one. We’ll have to break up the responsibilities this spring, but we plan to have a full-time counselor in place for next school year.”
DISTRICT TO HIRE ITS OWN SUBS
The School Board also approved ending the district’s current contract with Teachers On Call (TOC) to supply substitute teachers and approved a contract for software the school will utilize to hire and schedule its own subs. The district had already begun hiring its own subs this fall because they found possible subs were being lost due to the extensive on-boarding process with TOC.
Olson said they would use the same software TOC did to schedule subs. “Frontline is the software that TOC used, and we really liked that aspect of it,” said Olson. “So, we’re taking on a contract with Frontline because that was the positive piece. We’re taking on (all) of the onboarding because we’ve been doing about 90 percent of that ourselves already. We feel like this will allow us to get more subs because we’re struggling with the number of subs we have already. This will be about cost-neutral, maybe a little saving for the district.”
The small savings for the district could be realized after the contract with Frontline as the contract with TOC paid the subs $135 plus 27 percent of that for each sub scheduled by TOC. Olson said the district has already hired most subs working this year.
OTHER BUSINESS
The school board also took care of several other business items. School Board members Fee, Davidson, and Theis were all sworn in after winning re-election in November. The board re-elected the same officers, with Fee serving as chairman, Adrianne Winger as the clerk, and Tim Dufault as treasurer.
The board approved its legal team consisting of the law firms of Fischer, Rust, Stock & Rust, and Ratwik, Roszak, & Maloney. The official media outlets were designated as KROX and the Crookston Times. The meeting schedule was set for the year, with the school board meeting the fourth Monday of each month at 5 p.m. except for December. In December, they’ll meet Monday, December 13 at 6 p.m. All school board committee assignments remained the same. The board passed its annual resolution asking the administration to review and make any necessary recommendations for reducing programs or positions.
Olson noted that at this time, he does not see any recommended reductions forthcoming for the 2021-2022 school year.
FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PROGRAM PRESENTATION
Food Service Director Anna Ogaard-Brekken also presented to the School Board on the Fruit and Vegetable Education program at Washington Elementary School. Crookston received a grant for $6,120 to purchase fruits and vegetables as snacks and provide nutrition education from the USDA. “It’s designed to give free fresh fruits and vegetables to kids at elementary schools,” said Ogaard-Brekken. “We’re implementing it at Washington Elementary School, so all of our preschool and kindergarten kids get a free fresh fruit or vegetable snack every Tuesday and Thursday during their regular snack times. We also offer them a virtual nutrition education where we discuss where our plants come from, what part of the plants we eat, and using our five senses to try these new fruits and vegetables.”
